Open letter to Autoworks MD, Gunther Schmitz

TO: Gunther Schmitz [***]

I regret to have to waste even more of my time complaining, but I find the 'service' from your Brackefell branch to be utterly unacceptable and quite insulting ... if not ********.

My car went there for a service in December 2019 ... and again in Dec 2020. I had done some off-roading earlier in the year and suspected the air-filter might need to be replaced; and I wanted the engine cleaned. It took a lot of 'to and fro' to sort that out, primarily because the people quoting me for the service (Neliswa) doesn't seem to know anything about vehicles, or the difference between 'checking' and 'replacing'. She also incorrectly advised me that it could be steam cleaned at Brackenfell, but then said it could not - nobody there seems to know what can or cannot be done at the branch and it appears there is no standard of service.

The first quote for 'service special' was R995. The second was R2195 plus a lot of extras that didn't add up to the total of R2694.97. The third (from Keenan) was R995 again. I ended up paying R1499.

When I collected the car Keenan wanted to spend a lot of time advising me about the brakes - he claimed the discs were almost down to 2mm and would soon need replacing. I could not understand and suggested he must be talking about the brake pads. No, he was insistent, the discs needed replacing and that was going to cost R2000 each. It sounded very suspicious and I told him not to bother. I had the discs checked yesterday - they are a good 10-12mm!

When I left the car with Keenan, I asked him to replace the plastic 'trim' on the inside of the passenger door (it had got lost). He called me back to quote about R300 and said it would be ordered (from Japan or Korea) and I would get a call when it arrived. I never got that call.

So, a few weeks ago I called the branch and spoke to Tamelyn ... she of course knows nothing and undertakes to call me back. She says the part was never ordered and I have to pay a 'deposit' of about R600. She says 'unfortunately the price has increased'. Obviously I'm not happy ... and want to speak to the manager. Jan eventually gets back to me and explained the additional cost is for 'labour' .... but the trim is a piece of plastic that simply clicks into place ... which takes about 5 seconds.

Nevertheless, Jan (now that he's caught out trying to charge me for 'labour' that can't actually be supp****) promises to supply the part without any labour, BUT I must pay a 'deposit' ... which (he says) is typically 10%. I offer to pay 50% and ask him to get Tamelyn to confirm in writing. Tamelyn emails me to say I must pay the full price in advance; so nobody seems to understand what 'deposit' means.

Needless to say, I've heard nothing back from anyone at Brackenfell .... and of course, neither did you bother to respond to my email!